Many of us face ever-increasing demands. And while each of the requirements is valid in itself, the cumulation and speed are dizzying: More sales, more savings, more KPIs, projects, meetings, leadership, vulnerability, inclusion, more, more, more. Add to this a similar development in our personal lives and it becomes easy to lose a healthy distance and perspective.
I enable executives and coaches in maintaining that perspective. Together, we will create reflective spaces where you can think through what your role requires, what matters most right now, what this means for you as the unique person or team that you are. And, finally, how to match your role confidently to lead your clients and organization into the future.
I offer a safe space for courageous reflection and the opportunity to be really honest with yourself: inviting you to own who you are and choose how you act.
For more than 30 years, I have supported corporate clients in strategy implementation and organizational development projects internationally and across a range of industries. Time and again I have found that leaders and teams who radiate focus and clarity increase impact. And because you can only radiate to the outside what you have on the inside, I offer reflection formats in four crucial circumstances.
truly connect in your new role
The famous first 100 days…
Together, we will create a safe space for you to think freely and focus fast:
- Even before your first day, plan and increase your impact on arrival
- Once started, make sense of your impressions and questions to create maps of your new environment and plans for action
- Moving forward, ensure you are firmly settled into your new role
gain clarity in complex situations
The famous VUCA world…
As your thinking partner, I will be here to help you make sense and carve out your (re)actions:
- Know yourself, your triggers, and patterns to grow as a leader
- Be clear in your intent and communication
- Confidently handle conflict and difficult situations with stakeholders, peers, or in your team
increase your traction
Here is your lever…
You lead your team through the development - I will support you to read the dynamics and to set the right agenda for strides forward:
- Align around the role that your team needs to take in your organization and understand what kind of team you need to be
- Establish ways of working that contribute to your role
- Grow trust for open exchange and constructive challenge to leverage the strengths of the full team
- Continue to grow through regular feedback
clean start in a new phase
It´s settled…
Together, we will take time for you to sort through what you have collected and to consider what to bring from here to there:
- Find the learnings, harvest the memories and allow yourself to feel gratitude
- With or without your counterparts – address open wounds so you don´t carry resentment where it does not belong
- Find the right way to communicate, mourn, and celebrate your departure for a farewell that feels right
- Be aware of the differences between here and there – so you don´t get caught unprepared for what´s coming
Organizations that I have worked for include:
ABB
Axis Communications
Boehringer Ingelheim
BSH Hausgeräte
Consulting Impact
Deichkind
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Telekom
Developing Talent
Eidenschink & Partner
E.ON
Eric Salmon & Partners
FALKE
Fidelity International
France Télécom / Orange Business Services
Fraunhofer
Garz & Fricke Group
Generali
Hassia Mineralquellen
Heraeus
Infineon
Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln
KfH Kuratorium für Dialyse und Nierentransplantation
Koerfer Gruppe
Landeshauptstadt München
Malteser
Merz Pharma
Mettler Toledo
Microsoft
MunichRe
Nestlé / Nestlé Purina
NMY Mixed-Reality Communication
Philip Morris International
RKW Kompetenzzentrum
Roche Diagnostics
Siemens
TÜV Süd
Veganz
vinokilo
Westenergie
WTS Group
There is little doubt that the cognitively gifted have extraordinary skills and strengths, are able to think agile and out-of-the-box. A potential that few organizations recognize or fully tap into – despite elaborate programs promoting transformation, innovation, and inclusion.
Gifted talents often struggle to flourish in corporate cultures. And it has become easier for them to find a way out through self-employment, unconventional start-ups, the gig-economy, or specific industries.
Targeted consulting can help to resolve a stand-off situation, trigger successful learning and development processes, as well as identify and tap the potential of the gifted for the organization.
As a member of the biggest global organizations for gifted people (Mensa und Intertel), I am familiar with these challenges and have developed and specialized my coaching approach for the cognitively gifted.
Download: get up & go – coaching and consulting for the gifted (PDF)
This approach allows the coachee to
- Work at their own quick pace and their own complexity – no ifs, ands, or buts,
- Lay down their cognitive weapons,
- Explore heretofore underrated alternative ways of action,
- Develop new strategies for individual challenges – from changing perspective to communicating ideas, objectives, and plans.
Based on many years of experience, my coaching and consulting is customized for:
- Gifted people looking for a coach and partner for dialogue on a par.
- Companies looking for a coach to support those intellectually potent talents and leaders who struggle to unfold their full potential in the system and culture.
- Organizations searching to build systematic HR-instruments directed at supporting and tapping into the potential of the cognitively gifted.
Typically, people who are gifted
- Will find repetition and routine tiring,
- Are naturally curious and have a high energy for learning,
- Understand complex and latent connections quickly,
- Thrive on challenges,
- Question information and identify weaknesses and unresolved issues,
- Do not shy away from pointing out what they believe is obvious,
- Work at a fast pace on anything they find interesting,
- And will then prove to be an impatient driving force.
Gifted people often have an asynchronous personal development: They oscillate between the intellectual world of adults and the emotional world of their age peers. They think and act differently from children, teenagers, and young adults of the same age which means that often there is limited opportunity to learn and practice relevant social competencies. If there is no touch-point where the worlds meet on a par (e.g. in sports) and there is a lack of social experience and learning, integrating into organizational systems and cultures can be a challenge: The impact stays restricted to the field of expertise but many resources remain untapped by the organization as a result.
Often, if cognitively gifted people are expected to successfully lead a team, manage a project, or work in a team, they have to catch up on certain typical fields of learning and development:
- Handle adequately their own high expectations of themselves but also of colleagues, their boss, and their staff.
- Recognize and adapt decision criteria apart from logic and intellect.
- Accept and learn to use political reflection and action in modern organizations by consciously allowing nuances and gray zones.
- Set clear priorities and stay focused – instead of enthusiastically starting new projects before current ones are finished.
- Set boundaries to the extent of personal engagement in order to stay healthy and not burn out.
As coaches, our most important intervention is who we are in our relationships with our clients. By being authentic in our role and committed to our task, whilst remaining open to our questions and doubts, we model leadership behaviors and open space for our clients’ development.
As I achieved breakthroughs and met challenges with my clients over the years, I have learnt the importance of reflecting on working relationships and the specific circumstances that frame them – with the support of trusted supervisors, for my own development and my clients´ benefit.
Today, I am an accredited supervisor and will be your thinking partner so you can make sense of your experiences and harvest the learnings they yield.
working with individuals or teams
Two people, countless influences…
With compassion and conceptual understanding alike, we will create a safe space for you to explore such reactions and gain super-vision:
- Develop as a coach (and a person) as you make sense and lift the concrete experience to a bigger insight
- Recognize and navigate the temptations to stay on the right side of your code of ethics
- You are the intervention – make sure you stay that way: recognize and acknowledge the space you hold for many clients and what it means for your self-care
coaching or consulting organizations
Systems meeting systems…
In Team Super-Vision, we will create a regular space for you as a coach team to share, recognize, explore, and resolve dynamics so you can stay connected to the levity you need in your role:
- Concrete experiences with the client and what they mean for the team and your project
- Experiences, questions, or disagreements within the coach team, if and how they relate to the client system
- How to stay tuned as a team to the needs of all systems involved
Leveraging over 30 years of international experience, a strong business background, and extensive training in organizational systems, coaching, and supervision, I will intervene at the right level and focus attention where it needs to be.
My clients say I am keenly present and attentive in my work, intuitively understanding the big picture and then zooming in with structure and analytical skills. This enables them to see connections and new perspectives even in the most complex situations. I create a safe and non-judgmental space, facilitating reflection and enabling my clients to explore across levels and themes without ever losing focus of the professional purpose of the collaboration. These qualities have made me a preferred partner for focused, high performance personalities, teams, and organizations.
I regularly reflect on my own work through professional supervision. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have continued my education with a focus on mindfulness and body intelligence.
Based in Germany and the US, I coach in English and German, virtually and face-to-face.
Education and Associations
- Consulting and coaching organizations, teams and individuals since 1993
- MBA – Master in Business Administration from the WHU Koblenz (Germany), studied at Pennsylvania State University (USA) and HEC Montréal (Canada)
- PCC – Certified Professional Coach, ICF, trained with Hephaistos (Germany)
- ESIA – Global Supervision Individual Accreditation, EMCC, trained with Damian Goldvarg (USA)
- CAPP – currently pursuing Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology with The Flourishing Center (USA)
- Systemic Organizational Consultant trained with Klaus Eidenschink (Germany)
- Certified Virtual Facilitator, trained with Nomadic IBP (The Netherlands)
- Certified to administer Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), Hogan Developmental Survey (HDS), Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI), MBTI® and
FIRO-B® for individuals and groups - Training in systemic work with individuals and organizations (Gunther Schmidt, Fritz Simon), Gestalt (Werner Bock, Frank Staemmler), Transactional Analysis, and family therapy (Gunther Schmidt, Bernhard Trenkle)
- Member of ICF – International Coach Federation, EMCC – European Mentoring and Coaching Council, Metatheory of Change, as well as several global professional coach and supervisor networks
Petra Andres
MBA / Accredited Coach Supervisor / Professional Certified Coach
